Call to Action

As we approach the year two thousand and ten, we approach the year of the Personhood Amendment. With activity in 32 states, at least one is likely to pass, but fight vigorously anyway to make sure.

But don't let this very important issue mak e you loose track of the bigger picture. Fight for the unborn, yes, but also fight for the poor, the young, the old, the gay, women, et cetera. Fight for free speech, freedom of religion, for the separation of church and state, for school reform, for a more reasonable language (Esperanto), for a more reasonable numeral system (dozenal), and for logical arguments.

Fight against euphemisms, restrictions on freedom, and unequal treatment.

Equality

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Those are the words this nation was built upon. I, too, believe, as Dr. King put it, "one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed". History is full of examples of groups gaining equality. However, we aren't quite there yet. The young, the poor, the LGBT community, the unborn, the foreigners, are all denied the equality and human dignity that they deserve as human beings.

I call to you today, on this random day in September, to stand up and fight for what's right!

Censored? Really?

Cap-and-trade only allows companies to sell their extra carbon credits. It does not punish polluters. It certainly does is not a tax.

Your cute little chart is misleading, since much of the sections are automated and you don't have to work through it. Plus, it's not laid out in a line like it should be.

Quote mining Obama is not an argument.

The public option is just that: an option. For health insurance. It's not "government-run health care".

So, Republicans. Pelosi saying you can't lie to your constituents is not violating your freedom of speech. Your job is not to use shady tactics to manipulate and defraud your constituents. Your job is to represent them. You work for them.

Sonia Sotomayor Calls Abortion: "Woman's Right to Terminate Her Pregnancy"

By now, you know how ****ing sick I am of all these euphemisms. It's also vague as ****; I'm all for the described right. Wanna know how to excercize it nonviolently? It's called "birth".

You know what? How about I excersize my "right" to "terminate" YOUR LIFE, Sotomayor. See how much you like THAT!

Note to idiots: Click here.

Another Justice Ginsburg?

Oppose Sotomayor

July 9, 2009 Dear [real name removed], A few days ago, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg gave a very frank interview to the New York Times in which she stated that,“frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.” In other words, Justice Ginsburg felt the sanctioning of government-funded abortion was appropriate as a population-control measure. It’s appalling to realize that these comments aren’t from a eugenicist like Margaret Sanger, but from a sittingSupreme Court Justice. Her comments paint a picture of the real impact the U.S. Supreme Court has on the lives of the most innocent among us, whether that be the unborn or other “undesirables” in society. On Monday, the U.S. Senate will begin the confirmation process for President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Given what we know about Sonia Sotomayor’s own judicial philosophy, including her support of policymaking from the bench, we must oppose her appointment to the United States Supreme Court. Click here to contact your Senators today and tell them to oppose Judge Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Sonia Sotomayor’s record of support for judicial activism and her work for the pro-abortion Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund offer little comfort that she will be a friend to the unborn on the Supreme Court. While Sotomayor served as a board member of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund, the group filed six briefs with the court advocating for unmitigated abortion on-demand. Multiple accounts tell us that the board closely monitored the fund’s work, and that Sotomayor was “an involved and ardent supporter of their various legal efforts.” (New York Times, May 28, 2009) This suggests a troubling record of disregard for the rights of the unborn, which Judge Sotomayor has admittedly not thought about. Please stand up for the unborn boys and girls today and tell your Senator to oppose Judge Sotomayor’s nomination. Thank you for your continued defense of the unborn boys and girls! For Life, Marjorie Dannenfelser Susan B. Anthony List President 703-875-3370 www.sba-list.org P.S. Please consider supporting the work of the Susan B. Anthony List with a donation today. Click here to help us fight for Life on Capitol Hill! P.P.S. For the latest in Pro-Life News follow the SBA List on Twittertwitter.com/SbaList and on YouTube www.youtube.com/user/sbalist.

'Nuff Said

What if what they really want is for us to herd children into stadiums like we're doing? And put soldiers on the street and - and have Americans looking over their shoulders? Bend the law, shred the Constitution just a little bit? Because if we torture him, General, we do that, and everything that we have bled and fought and died for is over, and they've won. They've already won!.
-- Denzel Washington. The Siege (1998).

A few notices

Greetings all,

I've called Rep. Charlie Gonzalez about an hour ago and they were
not aware of this situation yet. Please call your congressperson
and request a follow-up!

"Cynthia McKinney & Spirit of Humanity Crew captured at sea!"
Cynthia McKinney, former Congresswoman and Green Party Presidential
Candidate along with the Free Gaza mission is captured and kidnapped
by Israel on the high seas!
Press Release here w/details:
http://www.freegaza.org/en/home/hope-fleet-news/976-israel-attacks-j
ustice-boat-kidnaps-human-rights-workers-confiscates-medicine-toys-a
nd-olive-trees

The media is not covering this yet either. If you have contacts at
any media outlet, please pass this along.

202-224-3121 is the general switch board for the US Congress.

Please call/write to help the immediate release of all 21 members of
the Free Gaza mission.

President Obama told Israel to allow humanitarian and reconstruction
aid to enter the country and this is how Israel responds?

Update: Associated Press is reporting that Israel took the boat,
cargo, and passengers to Israel for searching and plan on releasing
the people to immigration. How can Israel capture people in
international waters and search them? Where is the enforcement of
international maritime law?

Sincerely,

kat swift
210-471-1791
kat@voteswift.org
former candidate Green Party Presidential Nomination

------------------------------------

Abortion is Not Health Care

July 1, 2009 Dear subscruer, I need you to act now to stop the biggest attempt to force taxpayer funded abortion on-demand on the American people. Please write your Representatives today and tell them to respect your conscience and explicitly prohibit taxpayer-funded abortion as a part of health care reform! All Pro-Life Americans must act today to save the lives of thousands of unborn boys and girls who will fall prey to abortions courtesy of our pro-abortion Congress and President. Lives that will be lost using your very own hard-earned tax dollars. President Obama has clearly stated that he supports taxpayer-funded abortions as part of his health care reform. In his speech to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund in July of 2008, President Obama stated that in his mind "reproductive care is essential care, basic care, so it is at the center, the heart of the [health care] plan that I propose." When asked for clarification later, an Obama spokesman said that “reproductive care included abortion." In the current House health care reform bill, Nancy Pelosi and her pro-abortion friends have left the door open for Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and her unelected pro-abortion bureaucrats to define abortion as part of “reproductive care,” just as Hillary Clinton has already done at the State Department. We cannot allow pro-abortion legislators to leave this door open. Click here to tell your Representatives to explicitly ban taxpayer-funding of abortion as part of health care reform. Tell them you don't want your tax dollars to pay for abortions! And make sure you forward this e-mail to all your friends and family. We need to make sure every voice is heard in this fight. Thank you for all you do in the fight to protect unborn boys and girls. For Life, Marjorie Dannenfelser Susan B. Anthony List President 703-875-3370 www.sba-list.org P.S. Please consider supporting the work of the Susan B. Anthony List with a donation today. Click here to help us fight for Life on Capitol Hill! P.P.S. For the latest in Pro-Life News follow the SBA List on Twittertwitter.com/SbaList and on YouTube www.youtube.com/user/sbalist.

------------------------------------

Also, Friday is the deadline for all contests is Thursday at noon EST.

A pro-life ______? Who knew!

All political and/or moral philosophies have a common thread of pacifism. This states that it is generally wrong to harm another person. "Person" here refers to a member of your moral community.

Some philosophies have a small moral community, often restricted to one race, creed, nationality, or religion. Others expand their moral community to all living things (though they often ignore the fact that a living thing can be a non-animal). Another philosophy falls somewhere in between, stating that each species is its own moral community, and that every organism has a moral obligation towards its own kind.

Another thing that makes moral philosophies is how lax they are on the "generally wrong to harm another person". Sometimes, violence is allowed if it supports some kind of greater good. Sometimes, violence is never justified.

Sometimes, "harm" is defined very narrowly to physical harm. Sometimes, emotional abuse is thrown in. Still other ideologies (such as communism) see economic exploitation and/or denial of basic services (police, fire station, health care) as a form of harm.

Whichever one of these you subscribe to, the common thread of "do no harm" is there. But what defines a philosophy such as left/right, libertarian/authoritarian is not the scope of the moral community, but the scope of "generally wrong" and "harm". The definition of "person" is more or less up to the individual. Whatever the scope of the moral community, that determines the definition of "person". The definition of "person", combined with the scope of "generally wrong" and "harm", is then plugged into the combining thread of pacifism to determine the application of a belief system.

Because of this, the anti-prenaticide position is compatible with any belief system. This is why you see such groups as Democrats for Life of America, Libertarians for Life, Feminists for Life, the Society of Pro-Life Agnostics and Secular Humanists, the Atheist and Agnostic Pro-Life League, the Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians, and others.

Urgent reminder from DFLA!

HELP US STOP "FETAL FARMING" DECISION

The National Institutes for Health have released guidelines for a procedure known as fetal farming. These guidelines provide funding for research using human embryonic stem cells that were derived from embryos created by in vitro fertilization (IVF) for reproductive purposes and were no longer needed for that purpose.

The Obama administration legally is prevented from allowing the creation of human embryos for the specific purpose of destroying them for research, which is prohibited under a current federal law known as the Dickey amendment.

However, U.S. Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-CO) is sponsoring a bill to overturn that law and allow fetal farming, and the Obama Administration might sign that bill into law.

NIH Director Raynard Kingston in a media conference call made the outrageous claim that embryonic stem cell research would be a boost to overall scientific progress even though, unlike adult stem cells, it has never helped a single patient.

The guidelines also contain a long list of informed consent procedures and make it so parents know and agree to how the human embryos will be killed and used in scientific experiments. They only apply to research involving federal funds and do not affect research involving state funds or private dollars. The public will have one month to comment on the new guidelines and the Obama administration is expected to release the final set of rules in July.

The Poor States of America

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=88218

...WTF?

An Open Letter to President Obama

Dear Barack Obama, 

I would like to congratulate you on your historic inauguration, and hope you will continue advocating social change, though I am more a Green myself, and supported kat swift(1) until she lost the nomination. 

The mark of the left has always been its defense of the underdog. The unborn child is much more vulnerable than the farm worker or the single mother welfare recipient. I've noticed change.org has a section for animal rights but not one for prenatal rights. You said that abortion is not something decided lightly, and, while that may be the case, it does not mean abortion should be legal; a poor man deciding to kill his daughter to collect on the life insurance may be making the hardest decision of his life, but that does not mean no one should stop him, though it doesn't mean he shouldn't be given welfare either. While we should continue fighting poverty and other societal ills, we must eventually stand up as a nation and as a party and declare that all are equal: male or female, young or old(2), black or white, gay or straight, born or unborn, theist or atheist, rich or poor, American or foreign. Because of this, I strongly urge you to support a Constitutional Amendment defining "personhood" as beginning at fertilization, at which point modern medical science tells us a unique human individual is present. I also suggest you abandon ESC research in favor of the much more promising adult stem cells, or iPS cells (equal in all regards to ES cells, but with the added bonus that they do not involve the distruction of human embryos).

Being pro-life is not merely a stance of "the religious right", as is so wrongly believed by many. We are much more diverse than that. I, myself, am at once pro-life, liberal, feminist, and an atheist. I am anti-war, pro-universal health care, pro-ERA (The ERA's original author was pro-life, by the way), pro-gay marriage, pro-comprehensive sex ed, and anti-religion. 

I would also like to discuss the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). The only good thing about it is its abolishment of parental consent and notification laws; it is insulting, when millions of young children are being denied equality, to turn around and strip older, biological adults, of equality as well. Ignoring the issue of abortion's immorality, FOCA completely deregulates abortion, and, thus, puts the lives of mothers in danger. It allows doctors not trained in the practice to perform abortions, abolishes laws requiring operational emergency equipment standing by, abolishes informed consent laws, and even allows unsterilized equipment to be used. Not to mention it would also force doctors to perform abortions, regardless of their moral convictions. Catholic hospitals have threatened to close before performing abortions, and will follow through on it.

Instead of signing FOCA, I suggest signing the Pregnant Women Support Act, which is endorsed by Democrats for Life of America, does not restrict abortions, and would dramatically reduce abortions by providing support to pregnant women; sadly, many women feel abortion is their only choice, and college campuses often default to directing pregnant students to abortion clinics because the colleges do not know what else to do, a fact lamented by Feminists for Life of America. 

This is one of the main reason Crisis Pregnancy Centers exist, supplying everything from ultrasounds to baby clothes free of charge. We need more federal funding for these charitable organizations if we really want to decrease the abortion rate. These are needed because women do not want abortion like a kid wants a candy bar; they want it like a bear in a trap wants to gnaw off its own leg. 

I would suggest that you read Democrats for Life: Pro-Life Politics and the Silenced Majority by Kristen Day and The Liberal Case Against Abortion by Vasu Murti. 

If you've read this far, or even read this post at all, I am extremely grateful and sincerely apologize for this post's length. 

Yours in the fight for freedom, fairness, and equality, 

Nulono

(1) That's how she writes it, not a typo. 

(2) Youth rights is a bigger topic not discussed here, but I suggest you look into the National Youth Rights Association and read their arguments. I was disturbed, yet not surprised, by your statement on the drinking age. Youth rights was a main reason I support(ed) kat swift.

Goodbye

EDIT: I'd originally used this post to announce that I'd just finished reading Democrats for Life: Pro-life Politics and the Silenced Majority; It was very informative and I suggest everyone here read it.

However, due to recent events involving overreaction to the little profanity in this blog (as if words, mere collections of lines and curves, had some magical power to maim innocent kittens), warnings that some may commit the style over substance fallacy (fallacies being, ironically, one of the reasons this blog was founded), and threats of censorship, I have decided to shut down Restraint of the Heartless.

Goodbye, and have a rational 2009.